Ceiling-suspended serving tray



April 15, 1958 H. N. SCHMIDT ET AL CEILING-SUSPENDED SERVING TRAY Filed Jan. 27, 1956 INVENTORJ Heuav N.$C.HMIDT GEORGE A .Sm-umD-r A TO 2N EYS United States Patent F CEILING-SUSPENDED SERVING TRAY Henry N. Schmidt, West Allis, and George John Schmidt, Appleton, Wis.

Application January 27, 1956,Serial No. 561,854

' 1 Claim. (Cl. 211-114 players, during the dealing of cards and during the other activities connected with the card game. Further, due to their interference with free movement of the players, the bottles and glasses are not infrequently accidentally knocked over, onto the playing surface of the table.

Still further, even when the bottles and glasses are supported in a peripherally recessed portion of the table,

as is usual in certain card table designs, they are still disposed where they will interfere with the free movement and activities of the players.

In view of the above, one important object of the present invention is to provide a ceiling-suspended serving tray which will be disposed in centered position above the surface of a table about which a number of persons are grouped for playing cards or for other purposes, with said serving tray being adapted to hold a quantity of bottles and glasses, within the easy reach of any person seated at the table.

Another object is to provide a serving tray of the type referred to which will be readily adjustable so far as its distance from the table surface is concerned. In this way, it is proposed to permit the serving tray to be readily adjustable upwardly to an out-of-the-way position when it is not in use or alternatively, adjusted to any one of a number of operative or use positions, according to the desires of the particular users.

Another object is to provide a serving tray of the type referred to which will be particularly designed to hold a substantial number of bottles and glasses, thus to per- 2,330,703 Patented Apr. 15, 1958 ice Figure 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view on line 2-2 of Figure 1, portions being broken away; and

Figure 3 is a sectional view on line 3--3 of Figure 2.

Referring to Figure 1, the reference letters C, F, and T respectively designate a room ceiling, a room floor, and a conventional table such as a card table.

The device constituting the present invention has been generally designated at 10, and includes a stem 12 which may be formed of relatively small diameter pipe material, externally threaded at its upper end for engagement in a mounting flange 14, such as a conventional floor flange. The flange 14 is attached to the ceiling C by means of lag screws 16 or equivalent fastening elements.

The lower end of the stem 12 is externally threaded, for engagement in a reducing coupling 18, the larger end of which is threadedly engaged with the upper end of an elongated tubular member 20.

Slidable telescopically in the tubular member 20 at the lower end of said member is the upper end portion of a tray support rod 22. A set screw 24 is threadedly rnit the tray to be readily used by a corresponding number of persons seated about the table.

Still another object is to provide a serving tray which will be so disposed as to interfere in no way with the activities of the players.

Another object is to provide a serving tray of the type described that will be capable of being attached to a ceiling with minimum difficulty, will be attractive in appearance, and will be rugged and possessed of a maximum amount of stability.

Other objects will appear from the following description, the claim appended thereto, and from the annexed drawing, in which like reference characters designate like parts throughout the several views, and wherein:

Figure 1 is an elevational view of a ceiling-suspended serving tray formed according to the present invention, shown in association with a conventional table, the dotted lines showing the tray in an upper extreme po' sition of adjustment;

engaged in the side wall of the member 20, adjacent the lower extremity of said member, and accordingly, on backing off of the set screw the rod 22 can be axially shifted inwardly or outwardly of the tubular member according to whether the tray is to be adjusted upwardly or downwardly. When the rod 22 has been telescopically adjusted within the tubular member 22 to desired extent, the set screw is turned home thereagainst, to preserve the adjustment.

At its lower end, the rod 22 is threaded, and extends through a smooth-walled opening formed centrally in a tray support plate 26. Plate 26 is of at, disc-like formation, and is disposed in a plane normal to the length of the rod 22. Nuts 28, 30 are threaded upon the rod 22 against the opposite faces of the plate 26 to fixedly connect the plate to the rod.

Radiating from the rod at degree intervals about the circumference thereof (see Figure 3) are downwardly diverging arms 32, said arms having at their upper ends horizontal, inwardly extended extensions bearing against the underside of the plate 26 at the margin of the plate. Screws 34 or equivalent fastening elements are employed to effect a connection between the arms 32 and the plate 26.

At their lower ends, the arms 32 have vertically depending extensions 36 connected by screws or the like to the upper portion of a cylindrical, large diameter inner side wall 38 of a serving tray 40 having at its outer periphery an upwardly projecting retaining flange 42 lower than the side wall 38 in a preferred embodiment. Thus, the tray is of channel shaped cross section, and is supported in concentric relation to the plate 26 and rod 22.

In use of the device, and assuming that bottles or glasses not shown, are to be supported in the channel shaped serving tray, the tray is adjusted to a selected elevation above the table surface. Thereafter, with the tray centered above the table, one can place a bottle or glass in the serving tray, thus disposing the bottles and glasses used by the several players completely out of the way, where they will not interfere with any movements, such as the dealing of cards, etc. At the same time, however, the several bottles and glasses are within easy reach of all the players, regardless of where they are seated about the table.

Still further, if it is desired to serve food upon the table, the liquid refreshments can be retained in the serving tray, so that it will be readily apparent that the device has general utility, being readily usable not only when card games are being played, but also when meals are being served at the table.

When the tray is not in use, the rod 22 can he telescoped within the tubular member 20 to its maximum extent, thus elevating the tray to the dotted line position of Figure 1. If it is desired to completely remove the device, the stemv 12 can be screwed out of the cflange 14, thus permitting removal of the entire device with the exception of the flange 14, which remains in placeupon the ceiling.

It is believed apparent that the invention is not necessarily confined to the specific use or uses thereof described above, since it may be utilized for any purpose to which it may be suited. Nor is the invention to be necessarily limited to the specific construction illustrated and described, since such construction is only intended to be illustrative of the principles, it being considered that the invention comprehends any minor change in construction that may be permitted within the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed is;

A ceiling-suspended serving tray comprising: elongated, rigid suspension means adapted at one end for fixed connection to a ceiling and extendable vertically downwardly from said ceiling; a disc-like, flat support plate centrally afiixed to the other end of said means and lying in a horizontal plane; a plurality of uniformly, angularly spaced arms radiating from said plate, said armshaving fiat inner end portions "underlying the marginal part of and fixedly attached to the plate, elongated, intermediate portions declining in a direction radially outwardly from the plate, and flat outer end portions extending downwardly from the outer extremities of the intermediate portions in vertical planes; and an annular tray member fixedly connected to the outer end portions, said member being channel shaped in cross section and including a bottom wall in a horizontal plane, an inner side wall having an inner surface to which said outer end portions are afiixed, and an outer side wall of substantially lower height than the inner side wall, forming a retaining flange cooperating with the inner side wall in holding said objects in place upon the bottom wall.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 303,177 Miller Aug. 5, 1884 495,409 Fry Apr. 11, 1893 909,579 Galloway Jan. 12, 1909 1,370,981 McGowan Mar. 8, 1921 2,528,238 McDaid Oct. 31, 1950 2,580,980 Vrooman Jan. 1, 1952 2,621,007 Barbin Dec. 9, 1952 2,723,763 Baldwin Nov. 15, 1955 2,738,882 French et a1 Mar. 20, 1956 

